The Reset: Nourish Your Body from the Inside Out with Mia Rigden

The guide to resetting your diet and loving every bite (plus a meal plan!)

My heart is with everyone affected by the fires in California. I shared a list of great places to donate here—feel free to add more in the comments. No matter where you live, let’s do what we can to help as many people as possible.

Be kind to yourself. Love your body as it is right now. Health is about how you feel. I believe all of these wholeheartedly—and I’m also wondering how you reconcile body positivity with the cold hard reality that you recently turned 40, ate your way through Spain to celebrate, and are now a few pounds heavier than you feel totally comfortable with? (Asking for a friend, haha.) It feels un-PC these days to admit you want to lose weight, but the reality is, most of us feel better in our bodies at certain times than others. And there’s nothing wrong with saying we need to make a few healthy changes to recalibrate.

I want to start this year feeling my absolute best, so I’ve been cutting back on sugar and wine, and filling up on veggie-packed soups, berries, and plenty of protein. I’ve learned from experience that deprivation does not work—at least not for me. I get so much happiness from food—preparing it and eating it—and feeling satisfied after meals is a non-negotiable if I want to stick to an eating plan for longer than a day. Which is why I just say “no” to low-quality processed carbs, instead seeking out the best loaf of sourdough I can get my hands on, then savoring a toasted slice, warm with a little butter and sea salt… but I digress.

I’ve also been revisiting my favorite book ever on this topic, The Slow Down Diet. It always re-inspires me to embrace healthy eating with true joy. A couple of my favorite underlines:

“We need to stop fighting food and start embracing it. We need to stop punishing our bodies and start providing for them. We need to slow down and enjoy, and then we’ll get the results we’ve been looking for.”

“It’s about slowing down life to speed up metabolism. ‘Slowing down’ is becoming more aware: Open. Centered. Present. Balanced. Create this experience for yourself and your mind, body, and breath will naturally align in a synergistic state.”

I could go on and on (I have 72 highlights) but it’s this idea of slowing down your pace in life to become more aligned with your body’s natural rhythms. If this resonates, I highly recommend giving The Slow Down Diet a read.

Before we dive into today’s post, a few things I wanted to share with you:

• I’m headed to Paris today! This was a rather spontaneous trip—the French cookware brand, Staub, invited me and Adam on a media trip with a few other editors and creators to visit their factory outside Paris. I can’t wait to get a behind-the-scenes look into a brand I’ve loved for so many years. Will share all about it next week.

• The Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe I swear by. I made it last week and was reminded that this might be the Greatest Soup of All Time. It’s so cozy and satisfying and makes tons so you can eat it for lunch all week.

• My Vision Board for 2025. I just finished mine using our Vision Board Kit for Casa Zuma. I also created a Pinterest board to gather all the images that I wanted to print out. Feel free to use my board as a jumping-off point for your own inspo images! This practice always nourishes my soul and sparks new creative ideas.

• Comfy chic sneakers. I needed some truly comfortable sneakers to pair with cute outfits for walking miles around Paris this week. Just ordered these, and the vintage-inspired colorway is so good.

For the month of January, I’m interviewing some of my favorite experts across nutrition, fitness, and self-care as part of our 30-Day Wellness Reset. January is about manifesting our dreams and feeling our best, and that includes all aspects of ourselves: physical, mental, and spiritual.

Last week, I shared how to create your vision for the year ahead—as we step into 2025, the desire for a fresh start feels universal. But lasting change doesn’t come from drastic overhauls or rigid diets—it’s about sustainable habits that honor what makes you feel best. That’s the philosophy Mia Rigden lives by. As a board-certified nutritionist and classically trained chef, Mia helps people find joy in nourishing their bodies through a thoughtful approach centered on balance and mindfulness.

Mia’s Guide to Resetting Your Nutrition for 2025

Ahead, Mia shares her tips to help you reset your nutrition and build a strong foundation for the year ahead. To complement these habits, she’s designed a vibrant, joy-sparking meal plan that’s anything but restrictive. Think of it as a “hard reset” for your kitchen that will help you embrace balance while keeping things simple and satisfying—you’re going to LOVE these recipes. Ready to nourish your body and reset your routine?

Let’s dive into Mia’s tips.

1. Add one new habit at a time.

It can be tempting to tackle everything all at once, but sometimes, starting small and intentionally is better. With my 1:1 clients, I like to choose one or two things to focus on and master. Working toward protein goals is a great place to start because it will likely have the biggest impact on your mood, energy levels, and cravings. Try to eat .7-1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight and start the day with 30 grams or more at breakfast.

Once you’ve figured out how to hit your daily protein goals, level up with another nutrition goal. This could be increasing fiber intake (generally 35+ grams a day), eating 30 different plants per week (including fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, seeds, and legumes), leaving a 12+ hour window between dinner and breakfast, increasing your water intake (I recommend half your body weight in ounces), or something exercise-related (10k steps a day, weight training 3x a week, etc.).

2. Nutrition is more than what we eat.

You could be doing all the things, but if you’re chronically stressed or sleep-deprived, it will be difficult for you to see or feel the results. Sleep and stress management impact our nutrition and health in many ways, and can influence our eating behaviors. When you are tired or overwhelmed, you will be more likely to crave carbohydrates (including sugar) for a quick rush of dopamine and energy. You also are less likely to take the time to cook your meals, opting for less nutritious but more convenient options, and are more likely to skip the gym.

Life has unavoidable stressors, but you can counter this by activating your parasympathetic “rest & digest” nervous system (the opposite of fight or flight). Some ways to tap into your parasympathetic include spending time in nature, meditating, being creative, or doing a quick round of breathwork, like box breathing. Sleep is also parasympathetic dominant, so if this is an area you struggle with, prioritize a calming bedtime routine and try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

3. Eat food you actually enjoy.

When it comes to nutrition, results come from consistency, not perfection. And if you don’t like the food, guarantee you won’t be eating it for very long. You can find endless nutrition plans and dogmas online but remember: you are the expert of you. To create a plan you can stick with, find that sweet spot where the enjoyment of what you’re eating intersects with your nutrition needs.

The best foods are the ones that taste and feel good. Finding these foods can involve a little upfront work: you have to understand your nutrition needs and figure out how to apply that to your routines and the foods/flavors you love. But, once you figure it out, nutrition becomes much simpler and more intuitive, and the results follow.

4. Keep a food journal.

The point of a food journal is not to scrutinize your every bite, but to bring awareness to your eating habits. Food that’s eaten mindlessly (you know, a handful of chips here, a chocolate treat there) is generally not satisfying and leads to overeating. Commit to a few weeks of food journaling, whether in your phone notes, a physical notebook (like The Well Journal), or a tracking app like Chronometer or Carbon. Doing this will not only help you bring that awareness to your food choices but will also help you connect the dots between your lifestyle and your eating habits.

You may find that when you’re tired or stressed you eat differently, that when you skip a meal you snack more, or that you feel more satisfied when you eat more protein. These insights are really helpful in the journey to discovering the best foods and routines for your body and lifestyle.

Your Meal Prep Menu

I’m obsessed with the meal plans that Mia shares on her Substack, Btwn Meals—they’re always so healthy, simple, and really get the creative juices flowing if you’re stuck in a dinner rut. I asked Mia if she’d put together an exclusive meal plan for our Breathing Space fam, and she more than delivered.

Download the vibrant, joy-sparking meal plan below that’s like a “hard reset” for your kitchen—delicious meals like Salmon Fusilli with Lemon, Capers, and Broccolini or Chicken & Lentil Soup will help you embrace balance while keeping things simple and satisfying.